Voronezh Regional Museum

The Voronezh Regional Local History Museum covers the natural history, archaeology, and human history of the region from prehistoric times to the modern era. The Scythian collection is the highlight: finely worked gold torques, animal-motif plaques, and weapons recovered from kurgans (burial mounds) in the surrounding steppe.

There is also a good section on the city's role in World War II — Voronezh was the front line for over six months in 1942-43, and the fighting here was among the most intense on the Eastern Front outside Stalingrad. The museum is well presented by provincial Russian standards and worth two hours if you have an interest in the region's deep history.

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The museum holds an unusually large collection of Scythian gold artefacts — jewellery and weapons excavated from burial mounds in the surrounding Black Earth steppe. The Scythians were nomadic horse-warriors who dominated the Eurasian steppe for centuries before Alexander the Great's era, and their metalwork is among the most technically accomplished ever produced.